Just as LaPierre was finishing up his flopsweat-fest, wherein he described every single problem with society except the proliferation of firearms, news started rolling in of a multiple shooting in Blair County, PA.

Four dead, including the shooter. At least five persons wounded or injured including apparently at least three PA State Troopers.

At what point can it be explained to people and the media that certain lobby groups are NOT the experts we ought to listen to?

The NRA’s “more guns and guards” proposal is both insulting – there is no acknowledge of the problem our nation faces with gun violence EVERYWHERE including our own homes – and arrogant – an open refusal to admit that there is a limit to how much ammo one person ought to have and that gun safety is more vital an issue than gun control.

Are we gonna have to have a gun massacre every week before the NRA is laughed out of the forum?

Stupid Ron Paul fans think Sandy Hook was a set up. We’re seeing this kind of drivel from the fringe now.

They claim the girl hugging Obama must be the same girl who was killed, because her father dared to crack a smile before he spoke with reporters, and since they look similar. Because these heartless idiots have no clue how human beings deal with the incomprehensible grief of losing your 6-year-old daughter to a deranged mass murderer.

Sigh.

And as I’d hope we’ve all learned by now, simply ignoring the fringes doesn’t stop them, it only allows them to operate under the radar. Expose them early and often, I say.

The world’s largest supplier of firearms on Thursday said that it had experienced “unprecedented” demand for AR-15 ammunition magazines after a similar weapon was used to slaughter 20 6- and 7-year-old children at a school in Connecticut.
In a statement on the AR15.com forum, Brownells spokesperson Jason Corpus apologized to customers for delays in fulfilling their orders of assault weapon clips.

They sold 3.5 years worth of ammo in a 72 hour period.

The cowardice, the paranoia, the stupidity in this country is staggering.

From news summary I heard this morning, he did not discuss EVERY problem except the proliferation of guns.

He didn’t mention effed up gun nut mentality egged on by a formerly respectable and useful firearms association that turned into a ruthless and dishonest industry front group 20 or 30 years ago, that is now interested in nothing but making as many bucks for its sponsors as fast as possible.

And which reversed many of its formerly quite sensible gun regulation policy positions for filthy blood soaked gazzillions of dollars.

Funny he didn’t mention that. I think that factor may actually be more important than video games. Call me crazy, but at least let us discuss that hypothesis.

@GregB:
Apparently not. Of the troopers who were injured, only one was shot, and that was in the chest where his body armor protected him. Obviously, we need a better class of mass murderer in this country.

@Omnes Omnibus: Did you then explain to her that if they’re that hard to find, then she won’t be able to retrieve them and put them into operation in time to be of use?
And better, did you ask her how many children she’s willing to sacrifice?

@Comrade Dread: The only reason I don’t is to keep track of the nuttery. Ignoring these people doesn’t work; it only allows them to grow stronger.

They’ve gained some power in Congress with Justin Amash (MI-03) and Thomas Massie (KY-04). And Massie is 41 years old; Amash is only 32. They’ll be around for quite a while. Amash actually represents a district Obama WON. But the folks behind those $6 million 1-day moneybombs have promised Amash will not lose that swing seat. Hell, Steve Pestka (D) outraised and outspent Amash in 2012, and still lost by 9 points.

And Boehner removing Amash from his committee has only turned him into a conservative hero. Keep an eye out for this guy in the coming years.

@nemesis: Read that again, the magazines for the AR-15 are what they can’t keep in stock, not the ammo. Also note, the vendor for same called them “clips”. Clearly they aren’t real gun users, or they’d use the correct terminology.

@Soonergrunt: No, I try not to argue with the crazy people. She is at a point where she is unreachable. Might my comment reach others? Yeah. I just try not to use FB for anything other than social things.

This year I’ll be spending Christmas eve with the side of my family that includes the angry young man whose life is in a downward spiral and his ultra-conservative mother who he has issues with. I don’t know if there are any guns in their house and that scares me.

I couldn’t get it out of my mind when Bozo LaPierre was orating that he reminded me of one of the uber-the-top Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark. All he needed was a fedora, trench coat and a burn-scar. “Jahwohl, mein deer you vill tell us vere Herr Jones is or vee haff vays to make you talk, don’t vee Herr von Cheney?” Creepy, weird dude.

@sacrablue:
They understand what’s truly important. If it’s a choice between food and being armed to the teeth, they’re going to take being armed to the teeth. As these people have spent all their money on guns designed to kill other people instead of food, you can expect to see incidents of cannibalism on the rise.

“The Silastic Armourfiends were an insanely aggressive race who lived on the planet Striterax approximately twenty billion years ago “when the universe was young”. They were extremely keen on fighting – one of the best ways to deal with a Silastic Armourfiend was to lock him in a room by himself, since he would beat himself up sooner or later. They wrecked the surface of their planet in constant wars, and the whole population lived within bunkers deep below the surface.

In an attempt to deal with the problems their violent nature created, the Silastic Armourfiends passed a law that anybody who had to carry a weapon as part of their normal work (including policemen, security guards and primary school teachers) must spend a minimum of 45 minutes each day punching a sack of potatoes. It was hoped that this would allow them to work off their surplus aggression. This plan worked only until someone had the idea to simply shoot the potatoes, and the Silastic Armourfiends were excited about their “first war for weeks.”

During one of their more unpleasant wars, the Silastic Armourfiends asked the great computer Hactar to design the ultimate weapon for them. The computer complied, creating a hand-held bomb which would connect the core of every major sun via hyperspace, destroying the entire universe. The Silastic Armorfiends attempted to use the bomb to blow up a munitions dump, but fortunately Hactar had built a dud weapon since it could not conceive of any occasion when the use of the real thing would be justified. The Silastic Armourfiends disagreed, and pulverised Hactar.

Eventually, after smashing the hell out of the Strenuous Garfighters of Stug and the Strangulous Stilletans of Jajazikstack, the Silastic Armourfiends found an entirely new way of blowing themselves up, which was of great relief to the Garfighters, the Stilletans, and the potatoes. ”

RIP, Mr. Adams, I’m sure you never wanted to see the Silastic Armourfiends become reality.

For what it’s worth, a couple of the more conservative than anything else talk radio hosts on a big LA station thought that the NRA speech was ineffective and badly timed. Maybe there’s hope for the world.

OT: I’m a little surprised that no front pager has picked up on this little sad scandal yet:

Three-time U.S. Olympian and mother-of-three Suzy Favor-Hamilton reveals her husband knew she was a $600-an-hour Vegas call girl
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A three-time U.S. Olympian who was publicity exposed on Thursday as an elite $600-an-hour escort has revealed that her husband knew about her double life and tried to put an end to it.
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Suzy Favor-Hamilton, a 44-year-old married mother of three, has been working with one of Las Vegas’ top agencies to book ‘dates’ across cities including Las Vegas, Chicago and Houston.
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Despite using the name ‘Kelly Lundy’ as she advertised her services through Haley Heston’s Private Collection, her double life has been revealed after she told clients about her real identity, believing there was an unwritten rule they would not speak out.

Some of her customers were impressed with her creativity and her endurance, and felt that they got their money’s worth.

It’s also noteworthy that Favor appeared to work her escort activities into her travel schedule as a motivational speaker. Still, there is something sad about all this and her supposed reasons for turning to prostitution.

I started running a few errands right after Wayne’s presser, one of which took me to the sporting goods section of Walmart. (my mother-in-law asks next to nothing of me and I was happy to help with her xmas list.). I couldn’t help but listen in as the clerk behind the gun counter was telling a customer that they were completely out of the items he wanted. The guy then asked about a Ruger something and the clerk said they were out of any and everything automatic. I think he was asking specifically about magazines but I didn’t see a single assualt rifle behind the glass.
I wanted to chat up the clerk but decided to pass. The store is in the middle of a quite upscale area here in N. Texas. It’s really hard to wrap my head around it.

@Brachiator: Read that yesterday. I’m not sure that admitting to prostitution is a good move on her part, but she does have that galtian “I’m above the law” and “you little people can’t understand” things going for her.

@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: She isn’t my brightest cousin. Not a blood relation either. What is interesting to watch is how for he first day or two after the Newtown shooting she was posting sympathy pics and commenting about her love for her kids. Now that the talking points are out, she is posting them. It is like clockwork.

In Wayne’s world mass shooting are a feature and not a bug. All the shooting do is increase gun sales every time they happen. Of course Wayne is going to say more guns are the solution – it just helps his benefactor’s sales which means more donations to his organizations which eventually pays his handsome salary. What a grifter.

– institute a generous buyback program, pay with prepaid debit cards that have to be used within 6 months. It’s a stimulus too!
– after buyback program ends, you can still call the cops to take away your guns, even if they are illegal – no questions asked.
– legislate that for any gun used in a crime, every previous owner of said gun will need to answer charges of being an accessory. Using a weapon in a crime adds mandatory 15 years to your sentence.
– if a person is injured or killed with a gun, mandatory minimum sentence is life in prison (unless justifiable self defense yadda yadda). You may ask to serve your sentence with your gun “baby”. You get one bullet.
– civilians may own shotguns and max 6 round handguns. Rifles are for active hunters only and cannot be stored at home unless you live more than 50 miles from an applicable facility.
– Every gun must be registered. Use DMVs to issue licences, renewable every three years. You can buy ammo in lots of 50, pre-cleared with DMW, and you must prove you’ve used up the previous ones.
– owning an unapproved / unlicenced weapon is a felony with mandatory federal prison time.
– no concealed carry, either open (but unloaded) carry or guns and ammo must be transported in separate locked cases. Home storage in separate safes.
– any gun violence against law enforcement and they are allowed to use their shiny militarized arsenal against you, especially drones and black helicopters.
– all guns will have to have their stocks colored bright pink. Hello Kitty is acceptable too.

These people are seriously loosing it. I went out to get my mail and in the mailbox is a flyer, in color, with a picture of smashed-up cars and the caption ‘We don’t blame the car when it’s driven by a drunk – why blame the gun when it’s used by violent people?’. This is in Texas – who are they trying to convince? This was just somebody, who knows who? Putting these things in their neighbors mailboxes. Weird.

Validation. Other psychological issues. Who knows. But now that she has been outed, no matter what happens her life is probably going to get unpleasantly complicated. Her legit jobs and endorsements will quickly evaporate.

It was like, this is an easy way to have sex and pick up some pin money at the same time.

As a former Olympian, and as someone still attractive and fit, I doubt that she would have had a problem getting sex partners.

And let’s look at her rate card: $600 an hour, $4,000 for 12 hours, $6,000 for 24 hours, $1,500 add on for couples play.

You can get some hefty pins with that kind of money. Still it’s a risky business, and I bet that the tax man will soon be after her.

Also, one of the testimonials from one of her clients is unintentionally hilarious (this from the Smoking Gun article on her):

“She’s a midwestern gal with a midwestern upbringing and midwestern values.”

A gunman in central Pennsylvania fatally shot three people Friday morning, including a woman who was hanging Christmas decorations inside a church, before being killed by police officers during a gun battle, the authorities said.
The initial shooting took place inside the Juniata Valley Gospel Church near Route 22 and Juniata Valley Road near Hollidaysburg, Penn., a rural community about 40 miles southwest of Penn State University and 100 miles east of Pittsburgh, the authorities said.
The armed man, who has not been identified, fatally shot a woman in the church’s fellowship hall, where she had been decorating for a children’s Christmas party, said Philip McCaulley, the son of the chuch’s preacher. The woman, whose identity has not been released by the authorities, was in her 50s, said Mr. McCaulley.
When police officers blocked the roadway with their squad car, the gunman rammed the officers’ vehicle and opened fire, said Mr. Tomassetti, who was briefed about the attack by law enforcement officials. The officers returned fire, Mr. Tomassetti said, killing the gunman.

This is a tough one for the apologists.

I think it’s safe to say God hadn’t been excluded from a church, so there goes Huckabee’s excuse, and there seemed to have been plenty of police available, so that puts paid to the armed guard excuse, and I don’t think even the paid conservative hacks can say the troopers didn’t act in a ultra-manly and brave manner. I don’t think they can blame teachers, here, as they did in the last tragedy.

For myself, I’d have to say the gun nuts are getting braver, what with ramming the police vehicle. That’s a new twist.

We may have to “deploy” ( to use a word from the gun lobbyist, talking about elementary schools) something bigger and better armored than a police car, I guess.

– legislate that for any gun used in a crime, every previous owner of said gun will need to answer charges of being an accessory.

You had me until you hit on this bit of nonsense. A person does not become an “accessory” to a crime because something she once owned is used to commit a crime by some succeeding owner with whom she almost certainly had no contact whatsoever. Ever sell a computer? Wanna be criminally liable if a terrorist buys it on Ebay and uses it for his plots?

@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: I just think it’s weird that somebody printed up these flyers in their own home and distributed them down the street. Talk about grass-roots. I have to say that I do admire their determination. If liberals had half that much, we could get a lot more accomplished. But, we don’t sit around all day stressed out about every imagined slight or threat like they do. So, there is that for us. We’ll probably live longer, if they don’t kill us.

@Tonal Crow: It’s a negotiation position – at least the immediate prior owner needs to be charged or they will need to attend an administrative hearing or grand jury or somesuch. The purpose is to dry up the private market for guns. Maybe if you sell to a licenced gun dealer, you’re off the hook.

I hope he keeps it up. Alienating every gamer in the country i.e. everyone under 40 years of age. I hope he succeeds in making the NRA the ostracized dinosaur it should have been years ago. Ollie North, Ted Nugent, Ken Blackwell, and John Bolton on the board of directors. Heh.

Instead of getting upset at this guy, why don’t you get a few million of your friends to pay $35 and join the NRA? You get to vote in their elections and you could, oh I don’t know, nominate Sarah Brady as NRA president and vote her in. Fill the board will the next-of-kin of gun victims and you could turn that organization into a respectable organization.

@Craig:
Not knowing their corporate structure and seeing that the board comprizes dozens, I’m guessing they’re an advisory board and have no actual power.

Plus, my sending them money would be like baking cookies for those hardworking Auschwitz guards. (Yes, i’ve gone Godwin.) I don’t think I’d talk one of them out of the front gate key and to take the night off.

Loomis is guilty of being an imperious lecture-freak who condescends from his lofty perch to talk with mortals, from time-to-time. But he is not a head-lopper, and the only spike he approves of is found in the game of volleyball.

He said head on a “stick”, and I woulda found that pretty clearly metaphorical, but I guess I also wouldn’t want to work in law enforcement in LaPierre’s neighborhood right now.

Prof. Loomis’ writings on labor history are very edgemmefying, and my only complaint I could lodge against the man is that he once proved Yglesias right when Yglesias was being a mutton-head. (“proved” by overreacting in the predicted fashion)

I’m still thinking of writing a Sternly Worded Letter to the univ. president…

@Tonal Crow: It’s a negotiation position – at least the immediate prior owner needs to be charged or they will need to attend an administrative hearing or grand jury or somesuch. The purpose is to dry up the private market for guns. Maybe if you sell to a licenced gun dealer, you’re off the hook.

I think all utilitarian objects should be made as attractive as possible, since we have to look at them anyway. The Japanese followed this philosophy for hundreds of years, and I think they were right on the money. Look up “tsuba,” and you will be led to pictures of wonderful art squeezed onto the tiny space of a sword guard.

Jumping ahead to 21st century America, I think requiring all weapons to be in girly colors would considerably lessen their appeal to young men, who seem to be the most dangerous group.

Late to the party, but it seems to me that if you harden one target, like schools, then something else becomes the relatively soft target, and the armed lunatic simply goes there. Where would it ever end? We’d have to have guards for the guards. There’s Scalia’s reductio ad absurdum in a nutshell…

@I am not a kook: Most of your kind? suggestions have already been implemented and have very successfully put thousands of Black teenagers away, too many of them minors, for lengthy sentences.

I have another idea. Lets restore the duty to retreat and other time tested notions from English common law about starting shit and escalating it. Roll back the NRA/ALEC Brandish and Execute laws, styled SYG.

@andynotadam: How did the NRA disarm? Are there lessons learned we could apply? What about the South African model at the end of apartheid, Truth and Reconciliation? White paranoia was dialed to eleven. How did they pacify that population?

@Tonal Crow: Who appointed you BJ gatekeeper? If you’re going to go around judging the throughness of thought on this blog, you’ve got a lot of work to do… are you sure you’ve thought through what you’re signing up to do?

What, that bronies exist? Or are you offended because you’re a brony, too? If so, you can have a gun, too. Just make sure you and Yutsy don’t shoot each other over who gets to put which character on their gun.

(And if you’re offended because you think I’m making a joke that Yutsano must be a brony just because he’s gay, that part’s not a joke. He ‘fessed up to it in front of all of us.)

@Calouste: Only if they’re Generation 3 ponies. Gen 4 don’t need no guns. Hell, Twilight would zap you out of existence before you could blink. And don’t get me started on her brother, who’s in the Equestrian equivalent of the military.

Let’s just be real here. The NRA doesn’t care about the 20 slaughtered kids. They just curse Adam Lanza for shooting up an affluent area school and that most of the dead children were white. If it had been a DC school? No one would have cared, at least not the media. It doesn’t make the deaths of the Newtown children any less tragic or any less horrific. But do you really think that if some nursery school in an inner city area had 20 dead children that the same outcry would be there? I live outside of DC and kids are shot and killed every fucking day. Some through windows in their own houses. Some at school. I have yet to see any media other than local media cover it. I don’t know if it’s because the expectations are different in a not so affluent city. I don’t know if it’s because the children in the inner city are more likely to be either black or latino. I think it’s probably the combination of both. Until we discuss that fact then this whole thing is a farce.

@Tonal Crow: Who appointed you BJ gatekeeper? If you’re going to go around judging the throughness of thought on this blog, you’ve got a lot of work to do… are you sure you’ve thought through what you’re signing up to do?

If you post publicly, you sign up to be criticized, possibly including being told that some of your suggestions need further work. It’s your choice how to handle that. Also, if you don’t like my brand of criticism, you’ll find it very tough going in this blog.

I posted link a couple of days ago that talked about the ongoing slaughter of school children in Oakland and other places and people accused me of trying to derail the conversation.

Because, you know, the conversation is how do we protect the lives of cute white kids.

It’s been especially odd to read the comments today after that NRA guy suggested armed people in schools. The horror! What kind of ghoul is he? Apparently there are an awful lot of people who don’t realize that there are many schools in the country where there are armed guards and where the kids walk through metal detectors every day. It must be nice living in the fact-free cocoon where one doesn’t know about these things.

It must be nice living in the fact-free cocoon where one doesn’t know about these things.

That’s adorable! People disagreeing with you must be “fact-free” because, gosh, all reasonable folks reach the same conclusions with the same facts, don’t they?

As soon as you come up with a way for the NRA to add $2.8 billion to school budgets for a single guard (not including training or equipment, paying national average wage), then that could possibly be a starting point for conversation about making every school an armed camp.

Of course, a single guard at each school won’t satisfy, will it? After all, Columbine had one and that didn’t stop the shooters. But still, let’s grant the anti-big government folks the benefit of the doubt: it’s a great thing that the gunman gets killed on the site by someone else instead of their usual route – suicide. That’s the important part, not actually trying to stop kids from getting killed in the first place.

Those schools with armed guards and metal detectors? They are in place to curb gang violence as much as preventing an attack from an outsider – they do nothing to stop someone from opening fire in the playground. Or the street outside. Or a library, hospital, worksite, restaurant, park…

My spouse was saying tonight how weird it is that the NRA doesn’t seem to realize that they’re advocating that we set up an armed police state to prevent the government from becoming an armed police state.